• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Thinking about switching to Sprint? DON'T DO IT!

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jack2010

Newbie
Just a quick warning to those thinking about switching to Sprint; DON'T DO IT!

I was with AT&T for at least 10 years and switched to Sprint last year for the EVO.

Obviously reception for various carriers is different all over the country so if you happen to live in an area that has awesome Sprint coverage and don't travel you're probably safe.

But for the most part, Sprint's network sucks beyond belief and has actually gotten worse in my area. Traveling has proven to be no different. Horrible.

The EVO is a great phone but the battery life situation and Sprint's horrible service makes it virtually unusable if you are a business professional who uses your phone a lot and needs reliable network service.

I lost my unlimited plan when I left AT&T for the EVO and Sprint.

My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.

I cannot curse Sprint enough.
 
I HAVE traveled about 13 states last year and had little to no service issues with sprint ( i did in the desert of Arizona/New Mexico tho.

but your right it has gotten worse lately, I have asked and they told me that Sprint is pushing at full capacity (and they sold bandwith and leased towers to Cox comm. for their cell phone service to piggy back off) they said they were building new towers to handle the issues
 
Jack2010 said:
The EVO is a great phone but the battery life situation and Sprint's horrible service makes it virtually unusable if you are a business professional who uses your phone a lot and needs reliable network service.
Click to expand...

Your signal issues are probably having a negative impact on battery life as the phone will constantly be looking for a better signal. This is a massive drain on battery.

Is the Evo battery regarded as quite poor anyway?
 
thefley said:
I HAVE traveled about 13 states last year and had little to no service issues with sprint ( i did in the desert of Arizona/New Mexico tho.

but your right it has gotten worse lately, I have asked and they told me that Sprint is pushing at full capacity (and they sold bandwith and leased towers to Cox comm. for their cell phone service to piggy back off) they said they were building new towers to handle the issues
Click to expand...

Not a good place for most carriers honestly
 
Jack2010 said:
My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.
Click to expand...

Very good advice, indeed.

I cannot curse Sprint enough.
Click to expand...

That's a shame, really as there are plenty of very satisfied Sprint customers. But it is an excellent example of the reason why the advice above is relevant.

I am currently on AT&T and granted, in my area there are some poor coverage spots and Verizon customers get more reliable signal strength, it's not the overall picture. First, I travel outside the U.S. and for me a GSM phone is essential. I have been with AT&T since the CellularOne days and haven't had any significant problems. finally, they have the features and options that suit my needs.

You'll hear horror stories from customers on every carrier and while I don't doubt the veracity of the stories, they usually aren't representative of the average user experience. And, if I find someone hurling epithets and corporations, it's usually just out of frustration and I tend to discount it as either blowing off steam or sour grapes.

Caveat Emptor, definitely.
 
Kinda like airlines. your favorite is probably well hated by others. And you'd be considered lucky if you even had a favorite airline.
 
Jack2010 said:
Just a quick warning to those thinking about switching to Sprint; DON'T DO IT!

I was with AT&T for at least 10 years and switched to Sprint last year for the EVO.

Obviously reception for various carriers is different all over the country so if you happen to live in an area that has awesome Sprint coverage and don't travel you're probably safe.

But for the most part, Sprint's network sucks beyond belief and has actually gotten worse in my area. Traveling has proven to be no different. Horrible.

The EVO is a great phone but the battery life situation and Sprint's horrible service makes it virtually unusable if you are a business professional who uses your phone a lot and needs reliable network service.

I lost my unlimited plan when I left AT&T for the EVO and Sprint.

My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.

I cannot curse Sprint enough.
Click to expand...

As someone who earlier this year switched from AT&T, after 14 years as a customer, to Sprint, I personally had to respond.

As stated, all carriers have issues and "weak spots" in their systems so to me, as a frequent traveler, this is a moot point. I personally haven't had any issues in several metro area's ive visited.

When people complain about the battery life of a smart phone, I just find that not very smart. The phone is a mini computer and to keep all those, downloaded apps and features running the way you like, of course its going to burn thru the battery. There are alternatives.
 
OP: I would have to disagree with making such a blanket statement. I travel extensively across the southwest, from east Texas to the California cost, often hitting 3 states in a single day, and have not had any problems with Sprints coverage. In my home town (Phoenix), I have yet to complete a conversation with my real estate agent who is on AT&T, her phone has dropped every one of the 5 or 6 conversations we've had. I Can't imagine having to deal with that! However, every carrier is going to have weak areas. Plain and simple. Since I've had my EVO (1 year now), I haven't even dropped a call, that I can remember. While traveling for work, I rely on my cell phone for flight planning and weather updates. Needless to say, coverage is a necessity for me. I've been with Sprint for almost 10 years, and never have had any major coverage issues, and that is why I stay (excellent price and unlimited data is definitely a huge bonus, too). So, overall, I'm very satisfied with Sprint.
 
I signed up with sprint when I was around 18, 95 or 96 and working at best buy. where I live, Tulsa, ok was I think one of the 1st few cities to get sprint and we at best buy (and other resellers) got a chance for discounts and a chance to be live and talking on sprint before anyone else in the city could. It was neat that it had caller id, voicemail, a phone* with an address book when no one else had any of those things, service needing no credit check, but it would drop calls all the time.

*a phone, yes, one phone is all they had to pick from.

I switched to sw bell in 99 (then they got taken over by sbc, them cingular, and them ATT) zero problems, perfect service. dropped calls only if you try from a solid metal elevator and not always even then.

I did some amount of supporting and using sprint phones at work from 2002-2010 and they all seemed to drop calls just like I remember, sometimes in the same spots I remembered from 5-10 years ago.

For a while there was a sprint call center in our building, all those people had sprint phones and every time you'd get in the elevator with them you'd hear that little sprint "lost signal" beep that all their phones used to do.

I thought it was just that cdma is crap or something but I guess sprint just didn't know how to do it in our city, cause we have verizon phones at work now and they seem to work perfectly even though verizon's only been in Tulsa for something like 2 years.
 
*tear

I've had at&t for about...what...maybe 10 years now and I drop calls daily in the same place on the same road on the same drive home at the same time. I mean every carrier has its issues. I dislike when people just make blanket statements about a whole carrier. I mean where do you live? What coverage area are you? Have you called in and had the towers checked in your area? Have you called in and had any troubleshooting ran on the phone? Have you tried changing the settings in yoru phone to save battery life?

I mean you make the broad statements but give no facts. Look we all understand the battery life on ALL smartphones is not that great. But really there is no correlation between battery life and the carrier your on. Maybe try to do something about it then just compalin? Sorry if that comes off harsh but I work tech support and the majority of issues can be solved if you put a little work into it.

Thats my 2 cents.
 
I live in Kansas City, HQ of Sprint. Up until last Tuesday I have always had excellent cell & internet service. Last week for no reason our phones started roaming in our home as did all of our friends and neighbors within a 2-4 miles radius. At first I was told the problem was a wide spread outage which would be fixed within 24 hours. NOT. I have called them every other day and am now told they don't know when it will be fixed. The actually told a neighbor this morning that there is no problem and when she pushed they told her they would have to call her back when it was more convenient. This evening they gave me to a "tech supervisor" (he stumbled over his intro & title so I question his position). He told me the tower is out behind my house and at this point it is not estimated for repair. I pushed to find out whether it was needing to be replaced or whether they were having trouble with their lease as the issue was not storm or flood related. He had no information. I pushed further saying that We had 5 Sprint phones/Blackberrys and a wireless line and that I was paying for service I was not receiving. He said, and noted in my account, that they would issue me credits for all lines for the entire time the service was non-operational retroactive to 6/21/11. While this is appreciated it really isn't good enough since we can't function on a daily basis either from a busy family perspective or from a business perspective.

As I said this is the first real issue I have ever had with them, but it's a doozy and they really don't seem to be doing very much. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may have more to do with with the recent AT&T merger and people holding out on renegotiating there tower lease deals. The unfortunate thing is that it doesn't look good for Sprint not to have great coverage in its own home town.
 
John Redcorn said:
I signed up with sprint when I was around 18, 95 or 96 and working at best buy. where I live, Tulsa, ok was I think one of the 1st few cities to get sprint and we at best buy (and other resellers) got a chance for discounts and a chance to be live and talking on sprint before anyone else in the city could. It was neat that it had caller id, voicemail, a phone* with an address book when no one else had any of those things, service needing no credit check, but it would drop calls all the time.

*a phone, yes, one phone is all they had to pick from.

I switched to sw bell in 99 (then they got taken over by sbc, them cingular, and them ATT) zero problems, perfect service. dropped calls only if you try from a solid metal elevator and not always even then.

I did some amount of supporting and using sprint phones at work from 2002-2010 and they all seemed to drop calls just like I remember, sometimes in the same spots I remembered from 5-10 years ago.

For a while there was a sprint call center in our building, all those people had sprint phones and every time you'd get in the elevator with them you'd hear that little sprint "lost signal" beep that all their phones used to do.

I thought it was just that cdma is crap or something but I guess sprint just didn't know how to do it in our city, cause we have verizon phones at work now and they seem to work perfectly even though verizon's only been in Tulsa for something like 2 years.
Click to expand...
Hmm I've been visiting Tulsa quite a bit lately and seem to get very good service almost everywhere I've gone including the whole way down from Wichita. Never dropped a single call down there. Around where my folks live In Owasso/Collinsville I get 2-3 bars but still make and receive calls without a problem. No complaints from me.
 
My family and I are very happy with Sprint. Some coverage areas aren't as good as others, but in our area (Eugene, OR) Sprint is great.
 
You can't really base one person's experience with a carrier as a measure of how it will work for all people.

Sprint offers great coverage for me and is the best value for the services I get at the price I pay.

Also, the EVO 4G is not the only 4G Android phone in Sprint's lineup.
 
Jack2010 said:
Just a quick warning to those thinking about switching to Sprint; DON'T DO IT!

I was with AT&T for at least 10 years and switched to Sprint last year for the EVO.

Obviously reception for various carriers is different all over the country so if you happen to live in an area that has awesome Sprint coverage and don't travel you're probably safe.

But for the most part, Sprint's network sucks beyond belief and has actually gotten worse in my area. Traveling has proven to be no different. Horrible.

The EVO is a great phone but the battery life situation and Sprint's horrible service makes it virtually unusable if you are a business professional who uses your phone a lot and needs reliable network service.

I lost my unlimited plan when I left AT&T for the EVO and Sprint.

My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.

I cannot curse Sprint enough.
Click to expand...

^this
 
My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.
Click to expand...
Exactly!!! I advise anyone to select their carrier before choosing the phone. Before selecting your next phone you should read this post.
 
wmurphy1975 said:
Exactly!!! I advise anyone to select their carrier before choosing the phone. Before selecting your next phone you should read this post.
Click to expand...

+1
Amen. Always pick the carrier that has good service in your area, and places you may frequent, before the phone. Even the best phone ever made (if there is such a thing) doesn't mean jack if you have poor coverage if you area(s). carrier coverage > phone. Of course you may be willing to make a few sacrifices, such as less data speed (as long as still acceptable) for price, etc. But if you're constantly having difficulty with connection all together, you need to switch carriers. I'll admit, Im a fan of Sprint because of their coverage in the many states/cities I frequently visit daily for business, but if their coverage was sub-par in my area(s), I'd be out in a second. Luckily Sprint has outstanding coverage in the southwest, where I frequent many cities and states daily, and has the best rates in the industry (esp. considering they're the only carrier with truly unlimited data, now), Sprint is a win-win for me. But may not be for others. And. the same goes for ANY network.

EDIT: Its really all about your specific location(s). I'm in Phoenix, (8th largest city, I believe) and ATT really sucks here, T-Mo is good as long as you're close to central Phx, but after you leave the downtown PHX area, your're SOL; VZW and Sprint are outstanding. However, I can think of several instances, that my friend on VZW could not get coverage in areas of PHX that I could connect with not problem. T-mo I have seen drop to 2G when I have strong 3G in the same location. I actually switched to VZW, but could not justify the extensive price hike, since the increased coverage was marginal. VZW would pump out about 700kbs DL speds, where I was getting 500-600 in a test with my fiend, basically the same speeds. In my condo, I get 2.2 megs/sec down with Sprint. SO, I switched back to Sprint, and now I can afford to buy a new phone at full price with the money I save with Sprint every 8 months. So, it was a no-brainer for me. Sprint hands down wins in my area, and most of the southwest US. However, I'm sure its not the same across the country, and in every nook and cranny. You Need to do some research before you jump ship simply for a phone.
Sprint has the most generous return policy in the industry, just curious why OP didn't take advantage of it, unless she is just a troll.
 
I can understand if you say sprint has weak spots, but to say that you travel a lot and you've had reception issues wherever you travel makes me call b.s. There are many examples of ppl that travel a lot on Sprint's network without issues.
 
lunatic59 said:
You'll hear horror stories from customers on every carrier and while I don't doubt the veracity of the stories, they usually aren't representative of the average user experience.
Click to expand...

This. There's always going to be people on every carrier who is upset with them. I switched to Sprint a few months ago and couldn't be happier. And since it seems that Sprint is the only carrier with true unlimited data now, I'm even more glad I chose Sprint instead of Verizon.
 
LOL.

For anyone going to or from any carrier. One word of advice. Go into the carrier you are changing to. Makes sure they have a grace period, like 30 days for sprint. Start a new contract with a new phone and phone number, 1 month before your old contract is over. Take the month to test the network out before you port your number over. After you are sure that the new carrier is going to work out of you, then port your number over to the new carrier.

If the new carrier does not work out of you, you can cancel your contract, return your phone and try again.

But never leave your carrier for a phone. If you are going to trade carriers make sure you check the service of the other guy.

As for coverage, yes, sprint does not have the best coverage in the world, but for those that get it, we are usually very happy.
 
Jack2010 said:
My advice is don't leave a network you're satisfied with for a phone. Find the best phone your current network has and go with it until a new or better one comes along.
Click to expand...

RiverOfIce said:
never leave your carrier for a phone. If you are going to trade carriers make sure you check the service of the other guy.
Click to expand...

This point of agreement seems like a good place to close the thread. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom